


Substitution

by Rynfinity



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Brother Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 10:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2225856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynfinity/pseuds/Rynfinity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU - canon deviation in the first Thor film, between the point where Loki tries to kill Thor with the Destroyer and the point where he essentially succeeds.  In this AU, Odin wakes at that moment, when Thor is in grave danger, and intervenes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Substitution

_Why are you here?_

_And how?_

Both of these things Thor still wonders on a daily basis, two full Midgardian lunar cycles since his little brother first showed up here in Puente Antiguo - battered and broken and haunted-looking - clad only in torn Asgardian leathers, all traces of his royal rank stripped clean away.

All but the very worst of Loki's bruises have long since faded, and even those are mere dark shadows on his fair skin. The jagged gash above his left eye - the one initially so badly swollen shut Thor had feared he'd lost the use of it if not the eye itself - has healed to a pale white line. He still walks a little stiffly.

Thor has not heard the roar of the Bifrost since it took the Destroyer home. He has not felt the subtle changes it makes in the chemical makeup of Midgard's air, even at great distance. He can’t imagine how Loki got here. Still, his brother _is_ here.

Ultimately that's what matters…

…even if his means of travel was rather more-. No. It can’t have happened that way, and Thor doesn't like to let himself think about it.

He looks away from the endless sweep of the desert, turning to watch Loki instead. His brother - hair longer and a little shaggy from two months in this remote place; two months, where he has not left Thor’s side - stares blankly at- nothing. He gazes with unerring precision towards the crater where Mjolnir still rests, her silent bulk surrounded by a host of odd Midgardian trappings. The- the compound, whatever it is, isn't visible from where they sit - Jane and Erik have both tried to explain that this is due to Midgard’s curvature, a feature this small realm does not share with Asgard, but Thor has failed to truly catch on and secretly thinks the discussion is one they might better have with Loki - but that doesn't keep him from looking straight at it.

Loki has been there, has seen the hammer; Thor remembers it clearly. He remembers everything from his early days here clearly. Well, except for the night he let his pride overrule his good sense; the night he and Erik drank themselves stupid. There's a blurry bit there, though he hasn't admitted it to a single soul. Thor is a god, after all, and gods are not felled by simple Midgardian liquor.

His friends tell him his brother lied that night; that their father yet lives. Loki's abrupt and painful arrival here is likely further evidence of the same, as Thor strongly doubts Loki could have gotten here without the Allfather’s assistance. He finds himself not fully convinced, though... while he knows his brother does lie, as smoothly and as naturally as breathing, Thor simply does not understand.

When Loki thinks no one is watching, he looks far from godly. Right now, for instance, he rests back on his hands with his shoulder jutting up around his ears. His face is completely expressionless, even when his hair whips into his eyes in the hot, dry wind. From a few yards away he looks as alabaster pale as always. Up close, though, Loki now wears a faint smattering of freckles high on his cheeks and along the sharp bridge of his nose.

The freckles make him look centuries younger. Thor wants nothing more than to cuddle his little brother close and- and whisper, to reassure him that the monsters under the imposing arc of the giant metal bedframe - the bed where Loki as a child long feared to sleep - simply aren't real.

" _What,_ Loki huffs, still staring out into the distance. Out where the setting sun is just starting to paint the uppermost reaches of the mountains fiery red-gold.

"Nothing," Thor tells his brother, uncomfortably aware of how much of a flat twang his own speech has picked up in his time here.

Loki laughs without smiling. "You sound like a fucking hick," he points out, lest Thor think no one has noticed. Loki speaks flawless Midgardian US English, complete with an uncanny and unfortunate grasp of both profanity and slang, but always with a strong Aesir accent. Even out of sight of his pale coloring, no one is going to mistake him for a local any time soon.

"Don't bother lying," Loki continues. "It totally doesn’t become you." He laughs again as he swings a foot up and twists around to look at Thor. "I know you’re staring at me."

"Why are you here," Thor can't help but blurt out. Yet again. What’s the Midgardian saying? If he only had a dollar for-.

"On this roof," Loki asks mock-innocently, playing dumb so unconvincingly that it must be by intent. "I am of course staying out of the path of your mortal." While he calls Jane _Dr. Foster_ to her face, on the very rare occasion their paths cross to begin with, he refuses to call her by any name at all when he and Thor speak in relative private.

It irks Thor, which may well be exactly why he does it.

With that in mind Thor pretends he didn't even hear Loki's choice of phrase. "Not this roof; this town. This _realm_."

Something flashes across Loki's sculpted features, too fast for Thor to read. he braces himself for the inevitable attack. So far his brother has only picked fights verbally, has not yet resorted to blows, but his words are barbs. Oftentimes Thor stings more from them than from Loki’s fists and little knives.

Although here, in soft, lightweight Midgardian clothing, Thor is not so sure he wants to go up against _any_ of his brother's defenses.

Loki opens his mouth twice without speaking, eyes flinty, and Thor cringes. "I was dropped here," Loki says at last, deflating.

"Set down by the Bifrost, you mean," Thor corrects him. "But how did I not-?"

"No, _dropped_ ," Loki insists. "By your father."

"Our father would not-," Thor begins, but he can't talk past the sick knot of horror rising in his throat.

"He is not _our_ father," Loki growls. "Believe what you will, but it seems there is much you do not know. And, yes, he would. Would and did." He straightens a little and rolls his shoulders, grimacing. "The amount of time you devote to staring at me, I would have thought you might have noticed how I yet heal… all this time later."

Thor frowns. He has noticed, actually, and it has worried him. "Brother-."

"Have you heard _nothing_ I am saying," Loki snarls, face contorting. "I am _not_ your brother. I never was." He hauls himself a bit awkwardly to his feet. "Now leave me be."

Thor stands as well, shaking his head slowly. "No. Come down with me." He reaches out a hand but Loki backs away.

"Your mortal and her friends despise me," his brother spits. "Go. Leave me alone." His tone is sharp but his eyes glitter; he looks oddly close to tears.

"Well, you've scarce given them reason _not_ to," Thor admonishes, thoughtlessly, before he can stop himself.

Loki stiffens. His expression hardens and Thor curses himself silently. "Riiight," Loki says. "There's that little bit about how I tried to kill you - how I managed to lay waste to a good bit of their community before O- _go_ , he yells. "Go or I will." He moves to the edge of the roof as if to jump.

" _NO_ , Thor howls, lunging closer. His brother takes a step back, right to the edge, and wobbles dangerously.

Thor's heart stops, he swears it does.

"Is everything okay up there," Erik calls up from the ground below. "We heard raised voices." He sounds worried, frightened even.

Loki cocks one black eyebrow, eyes locked with Thor's. "Sorry, no, everything is fine," he calls down. "Loki and I were just talking."

"Ah," Erik says, tone abruptly much colder. "Well, we're all about to eat. Come down."

"Go," Loki says, very softly. "It's not me they want. I'll be fine." He turns and sits again, gingerly.

Thor aches to go to Loki, to pull him back from the edge and hold him until the darkness lifts. "I'll bring you up something," he settles for instead.

One; he knows, is a poor substitute for the other.


End file.
